Wednesday, September 17, 2003

 
FOX NEWS IS FULL OF SHIT.
External link: http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/pundits/bill-oreilly/fox-vs-franken-complaint.html

I very, very rarely swear. But this is what I've been saving it for. Fox News is full of shit.

Everybody says the problem with Fox News is that they have a conservative bias. That's true about them, and it is a problem, but it's not the main problem. The problem with Fox News is that they are full of shit. There isn't a spectrum with Fox News and the Washington Times and the New York Post on one side, and CNN and The New York Times and the Washington Post on the other side. But even if we accept that the New York Times and the Washington Post are "liberal" papers, then their conservative equivalents are The Economist Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. That is to say, these are all real sources of news that don't make things up, and bend over backwards to be fair to the other side.

The liberal equivalent of Fox News is Comedy Central's The Daily Show. That is, they both just make up things, and make fun of people who disagree with them, without really showing the other side. And the only difference is that one side is joking, and keeps pointing out that it's not a real news organization, and the other side is lying, and keeps saying that it is a real news organization.

So, Fox News's well publicized complaint against Al Franken for the use of the phrase "Fair and Balanced" is a great read. Read a PDF file of it here. Or a transcribed digital copy here. It's a fun to read, because it's really ridiculous and funny, without meaning to be.

One of their prongs in the pleadings (though it is legally irrelevant to their argument) is that "He [Franken] is not a well-respected voice in American politics; rather, he appears to be shrill and unstable. His views lack any serious depth or insight. Franken is commonly perceived as having to trade off of the name recognition of others in order to make money."

There are a lot of examples in there of Fox being ridiculous, but this is my favorite. Seemingly in order to discredit Franken, they say,

"Since 1995, after Franken left a second stint with 'Saturday Night Live,' he has attempted to remake himself into a political commentator. In 1998, Franken wrote and hosted a political television program called 'Lateline,' which appeared on the NBC television network. Upon information and belief, Franken's guests on 'Lateline' included well-known political figures Richard Gephardt, Jerry Falwell and Robert Reich. 'Lateline' was cancelled after only 19 episodes."

ONLY 19 episodes! He was hired by the #1 television network in America to write and star in one of the only prime-time network shows ever to engage in political satire. Week after week NBC aired the show to massive critical acclaim. You think Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity or Wolf Blitzer or any of the rest of them would stay on cable if they had a chance to be on NBC prime-time? But Franken isn't "well-respected" because his show went out to maybe ten times the number of people who watch Fox News Channel, for only the better part of a year.

Fuck them. Fuck Fox News. Fox News is full of shit.

This is The Official Record. 4:36 PM
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/09/fox-news-is-full-of-shit.html


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